Book Club catch-up

I know it has been a long time since I posted a substantial post.  However, my plan for this post is not for family memories.  Really, this post is to help me and my book club mates remember the books we've read.   The unfortunate part is that I've been meaning to do this but haven't for 2-1/2 years.  That's should be about 30 books that I haven't blog about but lucky for you, I think we've read 22 books in that time.  I guess I will give my 2¢ worth too, just that it might be interesting to those that are reading....

Before You Know Kindness / Beth M's pick for Aug 2009
   A book about family dysfunction... an interesting read.
The No1 Ladies Detective Agency / Candy's pick for Sept 2009
   Set in Botswana, a woman opens a detective agency.  Entertaining.
The Dive From Clausen's Pier / Korrie's pick for Oct/Nov 2009
   A boy engaged to be married becomes a paraplegic after diving from a pier.  This book follows the boy's fiance and her crisis that follows.  This one got me thinking about relationships and the foundation of good decisions.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society / Jill's pick for Dec 2009
   Great Book!  Set on an remote British island that was occupied during WWII by Gestapo troops, this book was about life while in survival mode written as letters between the characters.
Out Stealing Horses / Melissa's pick for Jan 2010
   A poetic book about childhood trauma and the lives that follow.
The Wednesday Letters / Candy's pick for Feb/Mar 2010
   A groom writes his wife a letter every Wednesday for 39 year of marriage.  A wonderful book giving life to the ups and downs of marriage.
Breakfast With Buddha / Korrie's pick for Apr/May 2010
    I remember this book fondly but don't think I would recommend it - maybe 3 stars?
Never Let Me Go / Melissa's pick for Jun/Jul 2010
    Fascinating book.  Brings your thoughts on the value of life to the forefront.
The Devil in the White City / Beth P's pick for Aug 2010
    Didn't finish this book.... unfortunately, I couldn't get the pages to turn fast enough for me.
The Time Traveler's Wife / Candy's pick for Sept/Oct 2010
    Loved this book!  It had enough twists, turns, and flips of time to keep me absolutely enthralled!
The Help / Beth M's pick for Dec 2010
    This book was so interesting to read.  It highlighted the time in American history that I am most shamed of and this book made me squirm in my seat.
The Broken Cord / Beth M's pick for Feb 2011
     An interesting book about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, its research, and its effects on one family.  It is potentially so much more debilitating than I thought!
Patty Jane's House of Curl / Melissa's pick for Mar 2011
    What would you do when family is falling apart?  This ones about that and how they all pull together to make it work.
How to Bake a Perfect Life / Jill's pick for Apr 2011
    A woman's life is unraveling but she finds what is most important through some poignant relationships that come to unexpectedly.
Memoirs of a Geisha / Candy's pick for May 2011
    A fictional book written as a memoir.  This one was very entertaining and eye-opening to some of the Japan's customs.
Firefly Lane / Korrie's pick for June 2011
     A lifelong friendship goes through all the ups and downs together.  A very emotional read.
One Thousand Gifts / Beth M's pick for July 2011
     This book is better in small chunks.  I didn't finish it in the allotted month but did eventually.  Finding gratitude and gratefulness to our God in this time and place, the present, is a life-changing challenge.

August 2011 - we went to see the newly released movie The Help.  I thought the movie did a pretty good job of portraying the book.  I recommend it.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo / Melissa's pick for Oct 2011
   A popular book that my Grandpa loved - so I knew I had to read it.  An unlikely pair, an eclectic woman and a man on a mission, pair up to solve a missing woman's disappearance. I like the mystery aspect and found this to be a great read.
Mudbound / Jill's pick for Nov 2011
   A book set in 1940's Mississippi about two families and their "crosses to bear" - woman, man, black, and white, all with prejudices and we watch as the consequences unfold.  Heart-wrenching.
The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict / Beth P's pick for Dec 2011
   Seriously, this book has changed me.  This book attempts to explain internal anxiety as a result of rationalizing our self-betraying choices.  Very enlightening and worth reading.
Marley & Me / Candy's pick for Feb 2011
   This is book we will be discussing in a couple of weeks.  It was funny and sad and very well written.  He obviously loved Marley and wanted to celebrate Marley's life with this book. 

Next Up - 1984 by George Orwell

Possible Future Books:
Still Alice
Radio Shangri-La
Sarah's Key

Book Club Review

We've had a new member join our group - Jill. She is a married mom of two and also lives in my neighborhood. Welcome Jill!

April Book/Melissa's Pick:
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
I really liked this book! I don't know how factual it is, but it seemed to be a great insight into the history of Chinese women. It walked through the differences between socioeconomic classes and what were expected from women - for example, how they broke and shrunk their feet starting at the age of 6 so they would be admired enough to be married properly and if done well enough, married up in class! But also, it was just a well written book with beautiful prose and characters.

May Book/Beth P's Pick:
The Florist's Daughter by Patricia Hampl
This seemed an interesting storyline but I just couldn't get past the heavy writing. There were too many descriptive words on each page and I didn't have the stamina to wade through them all!

At this point the book club decided that if the book was over about 300 pages that we would need to spread the book over two months. Some of us, me included, need more time....

June-July Book/Group Pick:
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
This was a very thought provoking book. It is about a man who, in a snap decision, sends away his newborn down-syndrome daughter and the impact that decision has on everyone surrounding him. Very well written!

The order of the next picks is Beth M., Candy, Korrie, and then Jill.

Book Club Report

December Book/Beth M's Pick:
Strong at the Broken Places by Richard M. Cohen
I had a hard time reading this book. It is about people with chronic diseases and the hardships they endure. It didn't draw me in and it was fairly depressing.... It quit about 125 pages in.


Took January off


February Book/Candy's Pick:
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
This book wasn't a easy read but I found it eye-opening. It is about a man that bonded with a village in Pakistan and then returned many times to build schools for children in that village and many others. It was amazing to read about a man that had a passion for something and made it happen. He reach out to these people by coming to them and befriending them, rather than forcing change upon them. His goal was more about finding what they desired to better their communities than dictating what he thought they needed. It was also interesting to read this book while keeping in mind what is going on in that part of the world currently.


March Book/Korrie's Pick:
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
I didn't finished this one either. I'm not a fan of how it is written and the story is too much for me. It seems far-fetched and not all that interesting to me. I do know that it is about the family history of a hermaphrodite and set mostly in Detroit.

Book Club Report

I keep this log of what books we've read in our book club for mostly a selfish reason - so I can remember what I read and what it was about! However, if you get something out of it too, that's great! This time I had to go back into my emails to remember what we read in the last four months. I guess that means that it has been too long!

August Book/Julie's Pick:
The Last Lecture by (the late) Randy Pausch
Reading this book was surreal for me knowing that he had JUST passed away. It was like reading advice on life's priorities from someone that had to figure it out quick! Randy Pausch seemed like a quirky guy but had his heart and head in the ultimate right places.

September Book / Korrie's Pick:
The Probable Future by Alice Hoffman
This book was an interesting read. It is about a family where the women have special powers unveiled to them on their 13th birthday. I also thought it was about protecting the relationships that you probably take most for granted. I did have trouble with the "happily ever after" relationships though.

October Book / Melissa's Pick:
The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
I picked this book because I was in the mood to read a classic. I found it very intriguing as it referenced topics like marriage, divorce, adultery, loyalty, religion, deception.... all set in the early 1900's. I loved reading it!

November Book / Beth P's Pick:
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Great read! I loved this book! It is written with the young reader in mind so it was an easy read too. Fictional but eye-opening about Native American culture and hardships.


Upcoming Books
Beth M's Pick: Strong at the Broken Places by Richard M. Cohen
Candy's Pick: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

PS - Julie and Kathy, come back to us when you can!

Book Club Reports

June Book/Candy's Pick:
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
So, I'm a bit belated posting this review.... but here goes. This book was really good. The book was really written in a beautiful. It felt very much like a smooth flowing, gently told story; it was so graceful and melodic. I loved the bee theme that wove its way through the whole story. I thought it was wonderful that the author was able to write like this while writing about such deep and disturbing topics: domestic abuse and its effect on children, racial discrimination, neglect, interracial relationships.... this book really got me thinking about these topics and how I REALLY feel about them.

July book/Kathy's Pick:
The Saving Graces by Patricia Gaffney
A really slow starter but after about page 150, this was a pretty good book. It was about four women that formed a group and become great friends. The book rotated from whose perspective it was being written. That was a little hard to get used to. It took me awhile to be able to change gears between the characters. But as you read the book and learned more about each character and the issues that each of them dealt with it, it really started to draw me in. the women's issues went from an abusive relationship, to a terminal disease, to infertility problems, to being in love with a married man. Yet they were all woven together wonderfully within this one book as each women leaned (or didn't lean) on her friends. This book spoke to me about what a friend can be and how I can be better at it.

Upcoming - August book: The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (which was picked, by the way, BEFORE he died last Friday...)

Two More Book Reports

Beth M's Pick:
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
This was really good and just okay at the same time. I loved reading and learning about another culture - the Hmong. The Hmong originally lived in the mountains in Laos but due to allying themselves with the USA and working for us during the Vietnam War, they were shunned by their neighbors and were forced to immigrate from their homeland. This book is primarily about a family that deals with their daughter "contracting" epilepsy and how the American culture (who sees epilepsy as an affliction and the physical body in need of healing) and the Hmong culture (who sees epilepsy as a gift and the body's spirits more important than the pysical body) clash in their treatment of this little girl. Secondarily, it talks about the history of the Hmong and how they ended up in America and about their cutlure. It is an amazing, eye-opening book. The part that makes it "just okay" is that it drones on at times making it hard to read but in the end does a good job of presenting all the information. A VERY thought-provoking book! Are you interested in knowing more about the Hmong?

Beth P's Pick:
Veil of Roses by Laura Fitzgerald
This was a really good time of me to read this book. The last several books we've read have been pretty heavy in nature but this book was fictional (with an infomative theme about Iranian life, especially Iranian women) and a lighter read. I enjoyed it very much. It is about a Iranian woman that was given the chance to get a tourist visa to America and was now on a quest to find a husband so that she could get her green card. Along with displaying the fundamental differences in life there in Iran (pronounced "EE-rahn") and America, it did a great job in uncovering some of the differences between cultures' expectations of marriage too. A very good read....

Next is The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Book Club and Book Reports

In December, a friend and I started a book club. We did because we both desired more adult, woman interaction in our lives. The goal was to invite people from our neighborhood and not to read just one genre of book. Another thing we really strived for was having a good mix of life stages: single, married, married w/ kids, ect. I really wanted that because I find that when I'm around women that have kids all we talk about are our kids. It has been really hard but I'm hoping that this group will help remember that there is a WHOLE WORLD outside of me and my household. I think it has gotten off to a good start and the women seem to enjoy themselves and each other. We've read three books now and I thought I would give just a short blurb on each for you, but mostly for me to remember later!

Kick-off Book:
The Power of thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
Very interesting! Pretty scientific in nature, which I enjoyed. The author did a good job convincing me that we have subconsciencious presuppisitions about people that are always coloring our world. I might be taking what he wrote too far but I came away thinking that if you want to put away all of your innate ideas of something or someone, you need to become an expert in that area. Anything you are not an expert in will be colored by what you think, instead of by what you know.

Korrie's Pick:
Falling Through The Earth: A Memoir by Danielle Trussoni
I really liked this book. It was about a girl/women that grew up in a broken family and whose father fought in the Vietnam War as an untrained "tunnel rat" crawling in the VietCong tunnels of hiding. She struggles throughout the book to discover herself and understand her father. She ends up going to Vietnam by herself as a yound adult to try and understand her father even better. This book really spoke to me because she was so emotionally strong but yet so impressionable. It showed me, again, how sensitive children are and how careful we should be with their minds.

Melissa's Pick:
Sudden Fiction: American short-short stories edited by Robert Shapard and James Thomas
This book was my idea but I didn't even finish it. It was hard for me to read stories that were sudden and abrupt and they didn't seem to leave you with any satisfying conclusion. I learned to not read short-short fiction...

And there you have it! Next month's discussion is about The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman. Until then!